Vehicle-top



(No Model) V ,J. G. GRIPPIS.

VEHICLE TOP.

Patented Apr. 4, "1893.

INVENTOH A TTOB/VEYS.

v WITNESSES:

PATENT FFICE.

JACK C. GRIFFIS, OF GIPSY, ALABAMA.

VEHIC L'E-TO P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 494,858, dated April 4, 1893.

Application filed December 27, 1892. Serial No. 456,341- (llo model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACK C. GRIFFIS, of Gipsy, in the county of Limestone and State of Alabama, have invented a new and improved Buggy-Top Attachment, of which the following isafull, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in attachments for top buggies. As the buggy tops are usually constructed the stays or strips of the top back, at the sides of the curtain, get slack, and when the top is tipped back these stays sag so as to flap in the wind and catch the dust and mud which fly from the wheels. They also flap obj ectionably when the top is raised.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple attachment which may be applied to the seat rail of an ordinary top buggy, and by which the slack of the top stays may be readily taken up.

A further object of my invention is to construct the attachment in such a way that it will be extremely cheap, strong and simple, and can be readily attached to the rail of any ordinary buggy seat.

To these ends my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of the same, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a common top buggy with the top tipped back, and shows how the stays usually sag. Fig. 2 is a broken rear elevation of a buggy top provided with my improved stay attachments. Fig. 3 is a broken enlarged detail view, partly in section of one of the attachments, showing it applied to the seat rail and to a stay. Fig. 4 is an end view of one of the attachments as applied to the seat rail. Fig. 5 is a similar view of a modified form of the device. Fig. 6 is abroken detail side elevation of the modified formof attachment shown in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view, showing another modified means of fastening the winding bolt of the stay.

The buggy 10 is of the usual kind and has the customary swinging top 11, which at the back has the usual curtain with the vertical stays or back pieces 12 at the sides of it. These stays are usually made fast at top and bottom, and soon work loose so that they flap violently in the wind, and when the buggy top is tipped down they sag, as shown in Fig. 1. My stay attachments, which take up the slack of these stays, are arranged on the seat rail 13 of the buggy body 14 and connect with the stays in such a way that the stays may be tightened as fast as they work loose, so that they are never allowed to become slack.

The supports for the winding attachment of the stays comprise the parallel clips 15 and 15 which are arranged in pairs near opposite ends of the seat rails. These clips are adapted to straddle the rail and they have depending bolts 16 at their lower ends, which bolts receive an ordinary clip plate 17 adapted to press against the under side of the rail, and the plate and clips are held in place by nuts 18 on the bolts. Journaled in each pair of clips is a bolt 19 to which the lower ends of the stays 12 are secured, as shown best in Fig. 3, and this bolt has at one end a head 20 which is adapted to be seated in a socket 21 in the clip 15, and this arrangement prevents the bolt from turning. The bolt head is preferably six square, but it may be of any ordinary shape as long as its sides are faceted. On the opposite end of the bolt is a nut 22 which, when tightened, draws the head 20 into its socket 21 and prevents the bolt from turning. It will be seen that to tighten the stay 12 and take up the slack it is only necessary to loosen the nut 22 so as to permit the bolt head 20 to be-drawn from its socket, and then turn the bolt so as to wind the lower end of the stay thereon, after which the nut is again tightened so as to draw back the head 20 into its socket, and the stay 12 is thus prevented from working loose. Instead of using the socket to fasten the bolt, the clip 15 may be provided with a ratchet rack 23 with radiating teeth, and the bolt 19 may be provided with a head 24 having teeth 25 to engage the teeth of the ratchet 23, and in this way the bolt may be readily turned in one direction, but will be prevented by the teeth from turning back unless the nut 22 is loosened so as to permit the separation of the bolt head and rack.

Another way of fastening the bolt 19 is illustrated in Fig. 7, where the head 20 is perfo- 1. The combination with a buggy top, of the revoluble winding bolts arranged behind the seat and secured to the lower ends of the buggy top stays, and fastening devices to lock the bolts, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the buggy top, of

parallel clips adapted to be secured to the seat rail of the buggy top, revoluble winding bolts j ournaled in the clips'and secured to the lower ends of the top stays, and fastening devices to lock the winding bolts, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the buggy top, of parallel clips detachably secured to the rail of the buggy seat, one of the clips having a socket therein with faceted sides, and a bolt journaled in the clips and having a head to fit the socket, the bolts being also secured to the top stays, substantially as described.

7 J AOK O. GRIFFIS. Witnesses:

MOORE, R. M. LEONARD. 

